CBS is planning to elevate the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” to HD by mid-summer, following a technical transition that began nearly a year ago. Also, the Sunday night newsmagazine “60 Minutes” is expected to follow suit when it launches its 41st season in the fall. The program will be one of the last regular CBS series in primetime to go HD (1080i).

Several departments were relocated in order to accommodate the new control room, where construction began last July. About a month of rehearsals began this week (May 19), according to TV Newser. The Couric half-hour newscast, stripped across weeknights, likely will transition to HD around the 4th of July, perhaps sooner.

CBS News field crews in Washington (mostly covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the White House) will begin shooting in HD with more bureaus expanding to 1080i when feasible. CBS News said virtually all its news content will air in HD by the end of 2009.

Check out the June 11 issue of TV Technology for a profile of CBS’s new HD control room in New York.
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